One Month into Fighting, Sudan’s Humanitarian Crisis Reaches Catastrophic Levels

One month since fighting erupted in Khartoum, more than 730,000 people have fled their homes and millions are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, while obstacles to delivering aid remain immense. 

Mercy Corps Country Director for Sudan, Sibongani Kayola, says: 

"One month into the fighting, Sudan is experiencing a perfect storm of skyrocketing food prices, displacement, and a collapsing economy. Our teams across Sudan report that prices for staple goods like rice, beans, and bread have dramatically increased - putting them out of the reach of many people. The supply line of important commodities such as wheat flour and oil into Sudan has broken down due to disruptions in the banking system and transport networks as well as factory closures.

"The challenges of delivering humanitarian assistance to communities in dire need are massive: continued looting of warehouses, lack of cash, and lack of security guarantees for humanitarian workers all continue to impede the ability of aid organizations to meet skyrocketing needs.

"We call on all parties to protect civilians and ensure that humanitarian organizations can deliver assistance to communities in desperate need, unimpeded and without threat to the safety of humanitarian workers. 

"We also urge donors to provide the level of funding needed for humanitarian organizations to rapidly mobilize resources for people in need in Sudan and for the hundreds of thousands fleeing to neighboring countries. More than 15 million people in Sudan urgently needed humanitarian assistance before fighting broke out one month ago, and the response to this need was already severely underfunded before this latest conflict. Significant efforts must also be placed on ensuring responding organizations can secure supplies such as gasoline and access banking services critical to the humanitarian response.

"The only way to stop the ongoing suffering is to stop the violence – and we urge all parties and the international community to explore every possible avenue to reach the ceasefire that would enable the delivery of humanitarian assistance at the speed and scale needed for the people of Sudan.